Not So Troublesome
by Crystal Jaganshi
Summary: During an outing with his mother, Shikamaru realizes Temari might not be as troublesome as he thought.


Not So Troublesome

Shikamaru stared blankly at the people passing by the many venders as him mother rambled on about her vacation with Choji's mother as they sat at an outdoor café. His mother had dragged him out of bed claiming that today was going to be a "Mother-Son Bonding Experience." Like he wanted to go shopping with his mother. At least there weren't any clouds out. That would have made it worse.

"So, what have you been up to lately?"

Shikamaru's eyes shifted towards his mother who was beaming at him with a you-better-answer-me-or-else look. He sighed before he answered her. "Nothing much really. The Chuunin finals will be held soon and I'm the ref." His eyes shifted back to the street and he propped his chin in his hand, elbow on the table.

"How wonderful! I'm so proud that my baby is coming along well as a ninja. So how is Choji? His mother told me that he's been training very hard."

"He's fine." He answered shortly. He really wished there were clouds in the sky today…

"That's good." Shikamaru noticed the sly tone in her voice as she asked "And Ino?"

"Tch." Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders and out of the corner of his eyes he saw his mother frown. Great. Here comes the You-Need-To-Find-A-Girl speech.

"Shikamaru-"But whatever his mother was rambling about he didn't hear as the Sand-nin trio walked slowly, looking at the venders products. Shikamaru had heard that Gaara, the new Kazekage, was in town for the Chuunin finals but he hadn't expected them to be in Kohana so soon. The large gourd was absent on his back and the shadow ninja swore for a split second he saw the Kazekage flash a wide smile. Shikamaru was glad for Gaara's change of heart. He really didn't want to deal with him in his killing obsessed state again. That one time in the hospital with Naruto was enough. His elder brother, Kankuro, was makeup-less and the bundle that bound the puppets to his back was also missing. Shikamaru had never really talked to Kankuro before but what he heard wasn't too bad. He did hear from Kiba that he was rather merciless on the failed mission to save Sasuke. His attention drifted over to the oldest sanding in between her two brothers.

"Hey, check out that chick! She sure is hot!"

Shikamaru's eyes glanced back for a moment and spotted two older teenaged boys behind him that his mind automatically registered as trouble. He did have to agree with them however. Temari, the eldest of the sand trio, was beautiful. Troublesome, but beautiful. That part of Temari never really appealed to him though. She was just like Sakura or Ino. Sure, both of them were kind of cute but after that they were troublesome too, Ino more than Sakura. He supposed that she looked less troublesome today without the fan on her back but he knew better. That woman was troublesome no matter what.

He looked at his mother to make it look like he was paying attention when the boy's volume in their voices dropped. Quickly, his mind deducted a 95 probability that they were talking about Temari and any boys talking that low and secretively about a girl meant trouble.

They were muttering perverse things and so the young Chuunin relaxed but then tensed again. Why did he care? All she ever did was wake him up from a nice nap, ruin his cloud watching, and cause nothing but trouble. Did she even count as a friend?

_YES!_

_'Oh no' _Shikamaru thought as two versions of himself popped up into his head. One of them wore a white toga while the other wore a red one. _'I hate being so smart.'_

White Toga Shika: Heart-Shika! What are you doing here!

Heart Shika: Nothing…. What are you doing here Logic-Shika?

Logic-Shika: I live here! Get out! You never make sense and your reasoning is ridiculous!

Heart-Shika: No it's not!

Logic-Shika: Then why did you think it was an excellent idea to say to INO of all people that Sasuke is stupid and she should just date Choji?

Heart-Shika: Because it's true!

Logic-Shika: anyway, look. Temari is NOT our friend!

Heart-Logic: Is too! Don't say you're not excited when she comes over to our hill!

Shikamaru ignored his other selves while they bickered, like usual when his ears perked up.

"I'll give you 1500 yen if you go over there and giver her a hand, if you know what I mean." One of the boys said slyly to the other.

Shikamaru frowned. They were going to do something perverse to her, most likely grab her, and the outcome wouldn't be pretty. The gears in his head began to turn and he deducted that because the Sand-nin didn't have their weapons, they intended to look non-threatening which was very important now that a former traitor is the Kazekage. They wanted to show Kohana that their treaty would be a lasting one this time around. So, that left a few options of what could happen.

OPTION 1: Gaara and Kankuro beat these guys up. Not the best choice as it would increase tensions between the two countries.

OPTION 2: Temari pummels them. While this option is more likely, tensions would still increase even though she could claim self defense. People twist stories as they get passed down the grapevine so who knows how far from the truth the rumor would be?

OPTION 3: They do nothing physically. This has less than one percent chance of occurring. The most unlikely option.

OPTION 4: I step in. This option is also unlikely but understandable due to the fact that boys shouldn't treat girls that way. It's not right. However, it would also save the Sand-nin from hurting their hard-earned peace with Kohana and the people wouldn't have anything bad to say about them. Hmm… I suppose this option is unlikely because I'm not sure if I want to get up or not…..

"Well, what are you going to do Shikamaru?"

He was jolted out of his thoughts by his mother's voice. She held a passive look on her face for once and was looking at him with a subtle curiosity.

"What are you talking about?" He replied, trying to sound bored and took a sip of his own tea.

"Shikamaru," she paused in thought before starting again. "I know you're smart and even though it may not seem like it, I'm happy that you are a lazy bum. With your intelligence you could do so many things for your selfish gain but you choose not too. You use it to solve and decide anything and everything and you make good choices. Sometimes lazy, but good. They don't harm others or yourself."

She sighed and sipped her tea as her son asked, "And the point?"

"What I'm getting is that sometimes, you don't need your head to solve something. You can just do what you feel is right. Ninja's use instinct correct? I feel that this situation is a time for instinct, not intellect." She frowned at the puzzled face that Shikamaru gave her and she turned her head towards the Sand trio.

"So, what are you going to do?" she asked again taking another sip of her tea.

So, she knew what he was thinking about. Hmm….

Heart-Shika: GET UP LAZY ASS!

Logic-Shika: WHY?

Heart-Shika: BECAUSE WE'LL REGRET IT! This is or chance to make an impression on her!

Logic-Shika: Why is that important!

Heart-Shika: Because she's our friend and we like her!

Logic-Shika: She's nothing but trouble!

Heart-Shika: Oh, so you don't like it when she lays down next to us to watch the clouds? Oh yeah, remember the time in winter when we fell asleep outside and she woke us up! Do you remember how scared she was for us then! We could have seriously gotten sick if it wasn't for her!

Logic-Shika: IT'S NOT LOGICAL!

Heart-Shika: IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE!

Shikamaru rubbed his forehead as he heard the scraping of the chair behind him. The guy was getting up. He looked back at the sandy-haired girl and shrugged his shoulders. Option 2 wasn't bad. But as the sleazy guy walked over slowly to her, he began to feel a knawing in his chest. With each step the guy took, it got worse and Shikamaru was startled when he heard a crack.

He looked down and saw that the clay tea cup had cracked under the pressure of his hand. He looked back up and saw that the guy was almost to her andhe saw Gaara glance back his eyes narrowed. Shikamaru looked back at his mother andsighed "How troublesome."

The guy was behind Temari now and his hand was ready to grab her butt as he said "Hey Baby, mind if I give you a hand?" He however never got a chance to grope her and she never got a chance to knock the living daylights out of him because Shikamaru did it for her.

As the guys hit the ground with a bloody nose, Shikamaru frowned. That was not what he was intending to do. But it was he wanted to do…. Instinct. Is that what his mother had said? Instinct….. Maybe it was a good idea….

"Wh-what the hell?" The guy yelled and Shikamaru took his favorite pose, hands in pockets and a bored look crossed his face.

"Shikamaru!" He heard Temari gasp from behind him. He heard her take a step forward but one of her brothers stopped her because he heard her ask "Why not! I'm gonna-"

"Temari, I'm going to get this guy. And his friend sitting over there." Shikamaru said icily which surprised her and himself. Since when was he _this_ mad? He was acting like this guy had tried to feel up his girlfriend! Wait a minute….

"Great. This is really troublesome." He muttered a blush forming on his cheeks. Fortunately, no one heard him.

"Who the hell are you? I'm going to beat the crap out of you, punk!" The guy stood up and slapped a fist into an open palm, for emphasis.

"You know, it's not nice to try and grope women." Shikamaru stated calmly. He guessed it was a bonus that he didn't feel like putting his Chuunin vest on today. There was no way for the guy to tell that he was a ninja.

"SHUT UP!" the guy roared as he charged the shadow ninja. Shikamaru brought his foot up and kicked him in the gut. As the guy fell over, Shikamaru ducked as the guy's friend sung his fist at him. Shikamaru tripped the guy and kicked him in the side, which ensured that he wouldn't be getting up.

Satisfied but now a bit upset that the girl he had chosen to like was more troublesome than his mother, he began to walk back to the table where his mother was and the big smile on her face.

"HEY! Where do you think you're going!"

Shikamaru stopped at Temari's voice and she went around to face him. "You didn't need to do that! I can handle myself thank you very much!" She snapped angrily.

He said nothing, afraid that he would let out more than he wanted her to know. He had already done something he hadn't planned on already anyway. His silence however only aggravated her more.

"Do think I'm weak! I'm a jounin! I can handle street punks myself!" He could see her trying to restrain from knocking _his_ daylights out. He figured he better say something or else she would hit him.

"I know that. But politically, it would have been a bad move." He stated, his calculative eyes looking into her now downcast ones.

"Well… why did you do it?" She asked softly, still looking downward. "I thought that this sort of thing would have been too troublesome for you."

"Temari," he said softly, the words rolling off his tongue without a thought as to what they were, "Those guys were troublesome. You are even more troublesome. But beating them up was not."

Logic-Shika: WHAT DID WE JUST SAY!

Heart-Shika: She'll love us for sure now!

Shikamaru ingrained the image of the shocked look on her face, a blush accenting her cheeks into his head and as he walked back to his mother. As they walked home, his mind argued back and forth between his heart, and he was so confused about his feelings for the Sand-nin that he helped his mother clean the house and make dinner.

By the time he curled up in bed however, both Logic and Heart-Shika were put at ease with the new Shogi board on his desk, and the water melon lip gloss on his cheek.


End file.
